Embodiments of the subject matter generally relate to the field of electronic devices, and, more particularly, to intra-application permissions on electronic devices.
Electronic devices (such as mobile devices, smartphones, tablet computers, etc.) can be configured to allow different types of applications to execute thereon. The applications can be pre-installed or downloaded, for example, over a network. For example, the applications can be downloaded from an application distribution platform that may be integrated with an operating system of the electronic device. These applications are typically tailored to the screen size and the hardware for the particular electronic device.
As part of an installation of an application, an electronic device may present to a user a list of permissions that the user must authorize so that the application can be installed and operate on the electronic device. The application distribution platform may be designed such that all permissions associated with an application must be accepted prior to installation of the application. These permissions can include authorizations to allow the application to access data on the electronic device. For example, some applications need permissions to access the phone logs, contacts, calendar information, information about the device's current location and location history, device identifiers or other information uniquely identifying the device, etc. A group of applications may be associated with permissions for sharing data among applications in the group of applications. However, for such a permission, the group of applications must be associated with a common application provider certificate, and the group of applications may be unable to limit the types of data shared between applications associated with the common application provider certificate.